Warp-drawing machine.



M. F. FIELD.

WARP DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEB, 191s.

Patented Feb. 8,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEETI r 9 Q A 2? ia bi m 9 W I t i 5 m: L m 6 E M. F. FIELD.

WARP DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8,1915.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

'rEs PAT NT OFFICE.

MILLARD F. FIELD, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS.

WARP-DRAWING MACHINE.

1,171,389. Original application filed May-11, 1898,

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, MILLARD F. FIELD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winthrop, county of Suifolk, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, (whose post-office address is 195 Freeport street, Dorchester, Massachusetts,) have invented an Improvement in Warp-Drawing Machines, of which the followin description, in connection with the accompanying drawlngs, 1s a specification, like-characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This inventionrelates to machines for acting upon detached metallic heddles or other similar thread-engaging loom elements and more particularly to devices for selecting such heddles or elements in succession from a series and positioning them for some subsequent operation, such for example as the drawing of a warp thread through an eye plicable to a drawing in machine, the inven-- tion is applicable to other purposes where the selection, separation or positioning of similar loom elements is required.

The typeof drawing-in machineto which the heddle selecting mechanism may be usefully applied is illustrated in my prior Patent No. 600,670, dated March 15, 1898. Only such portions and mechanisms, therefore, of-

- a warp drawing machine are herein shown as are-necessary to an understanding of the novel operation of the heddle select1ng mechanism, the general arrangement and function of such machines being well understood in the art and the application of the mechanisms herein shown to a machine of that type will be readily understood from the (11sclosure in the aforesaid patent.

This application is a division of my prior copending application Serial No. 680,335, filed May 11, 1898.

The invention will be best understood by Specification of Letters Patent.

reference to the following description when taken 1n connection with the accompanying lllustration of one specificembodiment there Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

Serial No. 680,335. Divided and this application filed June 8,

1915. Serial No. 32,853.

of, while its scope will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front ole-- vation showing the principal parts'of a devlce for acting upon detached heddles and embodyingone form of my invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig. 1; Flg. 3 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the gripping device illustrated in Fig. 1 in one position or relation to the heddles; Figs. 5 and 6 are similar plans showing the gripping device in different relations; Fig. 7 is an end elevation lllustrating the driving mechanism for the grlpper; and Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the same.

Referring to the drawings and to the illustrated embodiment of the invention therein illustrated, the heddles 1 are shown as hanging loosely from the supporting bars 2. In the drawings the heddles are represented' as flat, metallic heddles of the kind usually formed of thin, resilient steel having the slots 3 formed through their upper ends by means of whlch feature the heddles are strung on their respective supporting bars. They are shown of the type usually employed in the loom as drop heddles, but the invention contemplates independent, detached heddles of other forms of construction and also similar loom elements such as drop bars or drop wires, the .word heddle being used as a convenient term of designatiofi generically to include those devices as we i The heddles are shown as arranged in two banks or series upon the two supporting bars 2-2. When applied to a drawing-in machine the heddles would be placed therein suspended upon their respective bars andv occupying the approximate relative position occup1ed by the harnesses in the machine of the aforesaid patent wherein the banks or series extend generally lengthwise the niachine and in' cofiperative relation to theneedle or thread-placing device 4 (which for illustrative purposes is represented in dotted lines in Fig. 2). The needle would ordinarily be mounted, as in the prior patent referred to, upon a suitable needle carriage traveling along the bed of the machine parallel with the'supporting bars 2 and in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 the said needle carriage carrying the various operating mechanisms hereinafter referred to for acting upon the heddles. Each heddle is provided with a suitable threading opening or eye 5 through which a warp thread is adapted to be placed.

The heddles 1 in their normal condition hang loosely from their supporting bars 2 with their flat faces in planes substantially parallel with the line of reciprocatory movement of the drawing in needle 4. The first act or step in the operation of selecting and positioning the heddles is to collect or arrangethe'rn' so-"that they can be engaged in regular order, this being done by crowding them closely together on their bars.

While the heddles might be connected at their lower ends to bars similar to the bars 2, herein there are provided guideways 6 in which the lower ends of the heddles may be arranged and held against edgewise displacement. Each of the said guideways is provided with a stop 7 at its end consisting of a small lip raised slightly above the bottom of the guideway against which stop the first heddle in the guideway will be brought to bear and by which it will be stopped.

To keep the heddles crowded up against the said stop, the opposite end of the guideway is provided with a follower 8 in the form of a rod or plunger which is made to bear against the heddles and press them forward by any suitable mechanism. Herein this is accomplished by connecting the outer ends of the two followers by a cross bar 9,

the cross bar being connected by a cord 10 passing over a pulley 11 to a weight 12. The follower 8 acts to crowd the heddles closely together in a compacted bank on their supports from which the heddles may be released singly and successively. It will be seen that the heddles while loosely supported at their upper ends are guided at their lower ends and at both the upper and lower ends are given support against lateral each revolution.

displacement.

In order to select or separate the heddles singly and successively from each bank, any suitable means may be employed but those specifically herein shown comprise screws or worms 15 constructed and arranged in pairs, the members ofeach pair being located at the opposite side edges of the heddles and adapted to engage the heddles by their edges and select them singly as the lips of the two opposed members of each pair of screws come in contact with the heddles at The heddle selecting screws are mounted upon driving shafts 16 carried in any suitable journals (not shown) and driven from any source of power. The shafts are so turned that the members of each pair of worms are turned in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3.

As the foremost heddles of each compacted bank is picked off by the lips of the two cooperating rotary screws, the side edges of the heddle are engaged by the grooves of the screwsand the heddle thus selected and separated is conveyed along the screws to a point where it may be engaged by suitable devices for turning it. Herein the foremost separated heddle is engaged by what is designated as a gripper and which serves to seize the heddle and turn the eye portion at substantially right angles from the position indicated at the right in Fig. 1 to that indicated at the left in Fig. 1 so that its threading perforation 5 is presented directly within the path of the needle 4.

The gripping mechanism (Fig. 7 consists of the shaft 20 having a suitable step bearing 21 in the frame of the machine; The shaft is inclosed by a sleeve 22 provided with a beveled gear 23 by which the sleeve is turned. Near the top of the shaft. 20 there is secured a pair of radially projecting arms 24 and a second similar pair of arms 25 at substantially right .angles to the arms 24, each pair 24, 24 and-25, 25 constituting one jaw ofthe gripper.

Other pairs of arms 26, 26 and 27, 27 constituting the other. jaws of the gripper are secured to the sleeve 22 and project substantially diametrically therefrom and in the same horizontal plane respectively with the arms 24, 24 and 25, 25, which latter project through circumferential slots or openings 28 and 29 (Figs. 2 and 7) of about 180 in extent in the sleeve 22* The sleeve 22 is given a reciprocating rotary movement around the shaft 20 by means latter meshing with a large gear 37 upon the driving shaft 38. The latter may receive power from any suitable source. These parts, including the gripping devices and driving mechanism therefor, are preferably carried upon the same support with the selecting screws and the driving shaft therefor and the guiding and compacting devices 6, 7 and 8 at the lower ends of the heddles so that they all move together with relation to the heddles inthe direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. In the case of the drawing-in machine heretofore referred to such support will be carried by and with the traveling needle carriage.

The operation of the gripping and heddle turning devices is as follows: Assuming that a heddle has been separated and seioc lllii within range of the gripper jaws, the arm 26 will then be turned around by the sleeve 22 from the position shown in Fi l to that shown in Fig. 5, thereby gripplng the heddle w between the two jaws 24 and 26.

As the sleeve continues to revolve it car-- ries the two jaws of the gripper with the heddle between them around to the position shown in Fig. 6, thereby twisting the lower end of the thin metallic heddle about so as to present its fiat side toward the needle point. and place its eye in proper position for the passageof the needle in drawing in a warp thread. In Figs. 1 and 2 the heddle designated as m is shown thus positioned. As soon as a thread has been placed through the eye 5 of the turned heddle the action of the crank 35' and segmental gear 33 turns the sleeve 22 in the opposite direction and the arm 27 is thereby caused to catch the heddle, 3 which has been separated from the mass of the second harness and pressit against the arm 25. As the sleeve 22 continues to turn the heddle y is twisted about and turned into position ready for passage of the needle through its eye, and

thus the operations are repeated'alternately upon each harnesses. In Fig.- 3 the heddle gripper is shown in its proper position in relation to the screw selecting andseparating devices heretofore described. Rotation of the two sets of selecting screws may be suitably timed so that a heddle is presented to the gripping device first from one harness and then from the other.

in its reverse action, the heddle may be pushed forward out of the way of the gripper jaws by any suitable means such, for example, as the push rod 40 conventionally indicated in Fig. 2 and in dotted line plan in Fig. 3. -This may be operated by any suitable mechanism on the needle'carriage or other part of the machine to have a reciprocatory movement across the path of the heddles. The forward end of the push rod .as shown in Fig. 3 is of such shape that it thrusts ahead the heddle when released bythe gripper. grippers may be employed to turn the heddles, but in order to hold the heddles more securely two pairs of grippers are preferably used to grip the heddle above and below the eye. I I

It will be noticed that only that portion of the heddle containing the threading perforationv 5 will be turned by the grippers and that, in acting upon that portion, the part below the eye will also be turned, which will result in freeing the lower end of the heddle from the stop 7 of the hedheddle contained in the two.

When each heddle is released by a gripper A single pair of dle guiding means so that the heddle after being threaded may be pushed along in its 1 order as represented in Fig. 3.

While I have herein shown and described for purposes of illustration one specific form of the invention. it is to be understood that the same is not limited to the specific details of construction herein shown or the form or relative arrangement of the parts, but that extensive deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit thereof.

Claims:

1. In a thread-placing machine, the combination with a thread-placing device, means to support a series of detached metallic heddles, a heddle facer to face a heddle to the thread-placing device, and a rotary screw to engage and convey heddles along singly and successively to the facer.

2. In a machine for acting upon detached, metallic heddles, the combination with means for supporting a plurality of banks of such heddles on a-fstringer bar or the like, each bank crowded closely together on its stringer bar, means for turning a hed-' dle when separated from its bank and a ro-.

tary screw for engaging the edges of theheddles on each stringer barand conveying them singly and successively "to the turning devlce. j 3. In a machine for acting upon fiat, metallic heddles, the combination with a -stringer bar on which said heddles are arranged and a rotary screw device located at the side edges of the heddles and adapted to engage the latter and assist in positioning them singly and. successively.

4:. Ina machine for acting upon metallic heddles, the combination with means for supporting a series of such heddles, means for crowding said heddles closely together in a compacted bank on said support, from which bank the heddles may be released singly and successively, and rotary screw means for conveying and positioning said released heddles.

5.111 a machine for acting upon metallic heddles, a stringer bar on which said heddles are arranged, means for guiding said heddles at their lower ends, means for crowding the heddles together in a bank from which they may be released one by one, and rotary screw means for positioning the released heddles.

' 6. In a machine foracting upon metallic 7. In a machine for acting upon metallic heddles, the combination of means for holdsingly from the series, a gripper to seize.

ing a series of such heddles and a rotary screw selector for selecting the heddles singly and successively from the series.

8. In a warp-drawing machine, a series of sheet metal heddles loosely supported at theirupper ends, means for holding the heddles in orderly sequence, arotary screw adapted progressively to engagesaid heddles by the edge and successively to separate them from the series.

9. In a warp-drawing machine, a series of sheet metal heddles, means for holding the heddles in orderly sequence, rotary screws adapted progressively to engage said heddles by .the edges and I separate them singly from the s eries, a gripper to seize each separated'heddle and -mechanism to operate the gripper to partially turn the heddle and properly present its eye for the drawingin operation.

10. In a warp-drawing machine, a series of sheet metal heddles, means for holding the heddles in orderly sequence, rotary screws adapted progressively tovengage said heddles by the edges and separate them each separated heddle, mechanism to turn the gripper and properly present the eye of the heddle for the drawing-in operation, and a device to pushthe heddle away from the gripper when released thereby.

11. The combination with means for hold ing a series of detached, thread-engaging loom elements 'such as detached, independent heddles, of a rotary screw device adapted to engage said members and assist in positioning the same.-

12, The combination with means for holding a series of detached, thread-engaging loom elements, such as detached, independent heddles, of a rotary screw device adaptrating means acting subsequently to the releasing means.

14. Mechanism for operating upon independent heddles or the like comprising heddle threading means, means to support independent heddles in a series, rotary heddle releasing means, rotary heddle separating means to' Separate released heddles,

and means to position separated-heddles for the threading operation.

15. Mechanism for operating upon inde-.

pendent heddles or the like comprising "means to operate upon heddles singly and successively, means to maintain individual "heddles in a series, means to discharge the leading heddle, and rotary means operating subsequently thereto to convey the discharged heddle to a position for operation thereon by said operating means.

16. Mechanism for operating uponindependent heddles or the like comprising means to support such heddles in series, ro-

tary heddle separating means, and rotary heddle positioning means to position separated heddles.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this "specification, in the presence of .two subscribing witnesses.

' MILLARDQE FIELD.

Witnesses:

' EVERETT S. EMERY, THoMAs B. BOOTH. 

